Featured Post

"The Skinny" … on the Openers By Eric Hornick The NHL released the schedule for the 2016-17 season on Tuesday. It'...

Thursday, February 09, 2017

The Skinny: Isles 3, Philadelphia 1

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 52

Isles 3, Philadelphia 1

Jason Chimera broke a 1-1 tie early in the second period and Casey Cizikas added a goal early in the third as the Islanders defeated the Flyers 3-1 before a sellout crowd of 19,737 at Wells Fargo Center.

Wayne Simmonds and Anders Lee (after a post-game scoring change) had scored power play goals in the first period for the Islanders, who recorded a regulation victory in Philadelphia for the first time since January 19, 2012.

The Islanders improved to 7-1-2 under Interim Coach Doug Weight. Philadelphia is 1-3-1 in their last five games and 7-12-4 since the end of their ten game winning streak.

The win moves the Isles within one point of Philadelphia, who drop behind Boston (who beat San Jose) in the standings. The Isles are two points behind Boston, who now hold the 2nd wild card spot. The Isles hold three games in hand on Philadelphia and four games in hand on Boston.

The Isles are 17-0-4 when leading after two periods… Ryan Strome extended his point streak to five games (2-5-7) … A post-game scoring change extended Anders Lee's point streak to four games (2-5-7) while depriving Josh Bailey of a point in his fourth straight game… Casey Cizikas and Dennis Seidenberg each extended their point streak to three games…The Isles are 5-6-0 in their last 11 games in Philadelphia but their prior four wins had all been in shootouts; it's only their 5th win in their last 24 games at the Wells Fargo Center (5-17-2)…Jason Chimera's first game-winning goal of the season was his 175th career goal…Since opening the season 6-10-4, Isles are 18-8-6 in their last 32 games…Dennis Seidenberg was credited with 5 hits and 5 blocks; he is the 3rd Islander this season to have at least five of each. Seidenberg finished +1 and is now +22 on the season…The Flyers have scored only one goal in their last three games; Simmonds' goal ended a 134:56 drought for Philly.

Playoff Chase:

Metropolitan

GP

PTS

1Washington

55

82

2Pittsburgh

53

74

3Columbus

53

73

Atlantic

GP

PTS

1Montréal

56

70

2Ottawa

52

62

3Toronto

53

61

Wild Card

GP

PTS

1NY Rangers

54

71

2Boston

56

60

3Philadelphia

55

59

4NY Islanders

52

58

5Florida

53

56

6New Jersey

54

56

7Carolina

52

55

8Tampa Bay

54

54

9Buffalo

54

54

10Detroit

54

54

Seiden-Plus

At +22, Seidenberg is reaching some lofty heights for an Islander.

Since 1994-95:

1 Adrian Aucoin 2003-04 +29

2 Kenny Jonsson 2003-04 +25

3 Adrian Aucoin 2001-02 +23

3 Ryan Strome 2014-15 +23

3 Trent Hunter 2003-04 +23

6 Dennis Seidenberg 2016-17 +22

Last 21

The Isles are now 13-4-4 in their last 21 games (since December 20th vs. Boston). In those games, the PP is 13-65 (20.0%) and the penalty kill is 6-46 (87.0%). The only NHL teams with better records in that span are Washington (19-3-3, including 0-2-0 vs. the Isles) and Minnesota (17-4-2).

Moving on Up

John Tavares' assist ties him with Derek King for 10th place on the Isles all-time assist list (288).

#1 is #1 (aka The Greiss is Right)

Thomas Greiss has started 15 of the last 17 games (9-3-3) and 17of the last 22 games (11-3-3). In the last 15 games that he started he has allowed only 35 goals, with 17of those coming in just three games. He has allowed two goals or less in 13 of his last 17 games.

50-50 to Begin February

The Isles are beginning February with a 10 game stretch that features five home games and five road games, all in a span of 17 days. The Isles are 2-1-1 in this stretch (1-0-1 at home and 1-1-0 on the road).

2/3 at Red Wings (Lost 4-5)

2/4 vs. Hurricanes (Lost 4-5 OT)

2/6 vs. Maple Leafs (Won 6-5 OT)

2/9 at Flyers (Won 3-1)

2/11 at Senators

2/12 vs. Avalanche

2/14 at Maple Leafs

2/16 vs. Rangers

2/18 at Devils

2/19 vs. Devils

The Isles play 22 of their final 34 on the road and do not have a homestand longer than two games. Following this 10-game stretch the Isles will play nine straight road games for the first time in franchise history.

The Shots

Isles 8-13-9=30

Philadelphia 16-9-10=35

The Isles are 12-5-4 when they outshoot their opponents and 2-2-0 when the shots are even but are 10-12-5 when they are outshot.

Home and Road

The Islanders are 24-18-10 overall; 17-8-6 at home and 7-10-4 on the road.

Philadelphia is 26-22-7 overall; 16-9-4 at home and 10-13-3 on the road.

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 7-6-4 in Division games and 17-12-6 in games versus other divisions (7-7-3 vs. Atlantic, 4-2-1 vs. Central and 6-3-2 vs. Pacific). The Isles are 14-13-7 against the East and 10-5-3 against the West.

In the Nets

Thomas Greiss made 34 saves as he improves to 17-8-3 on the season and 3-2-2 in his career against Philadelphia. It was his 40th victory as an Islander.

Steve Mason made 27 saves but falls to 16-17-6 on the season and 8-3-3 in his career against the Isles.

Power Plays

The Isles went 1-2 on the power play, while Philadelphia was 1-3.

The Isles are 10-6-6 when they score at least one power play goal and 14-12-4 when they do not. The Isles are 8-9-5 when they allow at least one power play goal and 16-9-5 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 23-5-3 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 1-13-7 when they do not.

One Goal Games

The Isles are 8-7-10 in games decided by a single goal including 4-7-0 in regulation. They are 3-7 in games decided in overtime and are 1-3 in shootouts. The Isles are 3-1 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game (including one game that they allowed a goal after scoring an empty-netter).

First Goal

The Isles are 18-6-6 when they score first and are 6-12-4 when they allow the opening goal.

Back-to-Backs

The Isles are 4-4-1 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 2-3-4 on the back-end.

The Isles will play 16 sets of back-to-backs this season. The next back-to-back set will be on February 11th in Ottawa and February 12th at home against Colorado.

Tired vs. Rested

·The Isles are 1-1-3 when both teams played the night before.

·The Isles are 5-3-2 when they are rested and their opponents are not.

·The Isles are 1-2-1 when their opponents are rested and the Isles are not.

The Isles have been tied in the third period in 12 of their 18 regulation losses (and 22 of their 28 overall losses) but have allowed the lead goal in the final 3 minutes of regulation seven times (including one game they rallied to win):

Philadelphia leads the season series two games to one (each team has four points). The teams will meet in Philadelphia on March 30th to conclude the season series.

The Isles are 1-0-2 this season against against Philadelphia; this was only their 5th win in their last 24 games in Philly (5-17-2).

On The Farm

Ryan Pulock scored his second goal of the game in overtime as the Sound Tigers concluded an 8-game homestand with a 7-1-0-0 record with a 4-3 win over Springfield. Bridgeport is now 27-16-1-1 on the season.

Bracken Kearns leads the Sound Tigers in points (16-20-36) and is tied with Steve Bernier for the goal-scoring lead with 16. Rookie Devon Toews leads the team with 24 assists. Ryan Pulock leads the defense with 9 goals (9-9-18 in only 24 games). Jaroslav Halak now leads the team in wins (8-1-2).

The Sound Tigers begin a home-and-home in Providence on Friday, host the P-Bruins on Saturday and then host Hershey on Sunday afternoon.

The Isles conclude their road trip with the first of two games in four days in Ontario as they face the Ottawa Senators for the second time this season.

Ottawa defeated the Isles 6-2 back on December 18th, dropping the Isles to 11-14-6. Since then, the Isles are 13-4-4.

The Canadian capital has been a successful stop for the Isles in recent years, as they have gone 4-0-1 in their last five visits.

The final meeting of the teams will be in Brooklyn on April 9th in the regular season finale.

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since January 21, 1982. Information contained in "The Skinny" has been gathered from various sources. Follow Eric @ehornick on Twitter & on his blog http://www.nyiskinny.com./

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick